ENDURA Alpen-Traum
Defending champ Stefan Kirchmair Signed on for ENDURA Alpen-Traum
News Release / 23.07.2014
Last year's titleholder will face some stiff competition but seems keen on demonstrating that he still has the stuff to lead the field on this single-day traverse of the Alps. The course follows last year's 252-kilometer route with a punishing positive vertical of 6,000 meters.
Riders face six mountain passes between Sonthofen in the Northern foothills of Southern Germany and the race finish south of the High Divide in Solda, Italy. A shorter version of the course offers an alternative start location in Landeck, Austria, but still sports 4,315 m of elevation gain over a distance of 146 kilometers. Both courses finish at an elevation of 1,800 meters at the base of Ortles Mtn., arguably the most imposing mountain massif in the eastern Alps.
Stefan Kirchmair can be expected to give it all in his attempt to defend the coveted Alpen-Traum title. The confident 25-year-old doesn't lack motivation two months ahead of the race. “The memory of duking it out with Jörg Ludewig is still pretty vivid in my memory. As if it had been yesterday – a really tough fight. I'm curious about the competition this year and wonder which pros will sign up. Regardless, the ENDURA Alpen-Traum is going to be the highlight of my season”.
Naturally, last year's victory was assisted to no small part by his domestiques of Kirchmair Cycling Team, and once again they will assist the champion in his attempt to repeat last year's winning performance. Kirchmair seems more than determined. “The situation is very similar to what I faced in 2013 - I've had health issues and am still recuperating from a fall. But regardless I want to win the Alpen-Traum again”.
Kirchmair holds the ENDURA Alpen-Traum in high esteem and indeed the event seems to have made the ranks of reputable road races such the Ötztaler in Tyrol and the Alpenbrevet in Switzerland. Kirchmair knows them all. “I race a good number of road cycle marathons each year, such as the Dolomiten Super Giro, Drei-Länder-Giro, Mondsee Marathon, Engadin Marathon, Ötztaler, etc.. But the Alpen-Traum ranks highest with me. It is the last and also the longest race of the season and therefore the highlight of the second half of the year”. Kirchmair is currently considered one of the best austrian marathon road cyclists. In his adolescence under contract with an elite team, he founded his own [Kirchmair Cycling Team] last year and has been on the go without break ever since.
“Unfortunately, I didn't do that well this spring when a training camp in the Canaries left me with cramps and I lost almost a month. I was barely back on the bike when I had a serious spill, breaking a neck vertebra and needing to take more time off”.
But Kirchmair is legendary for his rebounds – one of the defining qualities of this talented racer. Like two years ago, when he won the 2nd Ötztaler in a record time of 7:00:12 hours – despite a broken clavicle. Last year, the situation was not that much different. Various injuries had seriously cut into his prep. time and yet he proved victorious at the inaugural ENDURA Alpen-Traum. Few will forget that the remarkable finale he delivered on Umbrail Pass in 2013. There, Kirchmair took off on his last adversary, Jörg Ludewig, only to find himself completely on his own for the rest of the course en route to Solda.
The fabled course of the ENDURA Alpen-Traum remains unchanged from 2013. After leaving Sonthofen [Germany], memorable waypoints along the course are Oberjoch, Hahntennjoch, Pillerhöhe, Reschenpass, Passo Umbrail and Passo Stelvio before the final climb to the finish at Solda [Italy].
Kirchmair considers Passo Umbrail the make-it or break-it point. “It is definitely the hardest climb in combination with Passo Stelvio. The last stretch is absolutely punishing and total agony. Last year the race was decided right there among the small group of runaways”. The champion has been on the course several times this year already and just got back from a “reccie” up to Solda.
His advice to all event participants: “Find your own rhythm, don't exert yourself too much and keep on drinking and feeding your system. Safe some energy for Passo Umbrail, which is 200 kilometers into the course. Otherwise the last climbs up Passo Stelvio and to Solda will be one's worst nightmare rather than the fulfilment of a dream”.
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